Leasehold Conveyancing in Monken Hadley - Get a Quote from the leasehold experts approved by your lender

Get a Quote

While any conveyancing practice can theoretically handle your leasehold conveyancing in Monken Hadley, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Top Five Questions relating to Monken Hadley leasehold conveyancing

I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Monken Hadley. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Monken Hadley - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I only have 62 years remaining on my flat in Monken Hadley. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Monken Hadley.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Monken Hadley. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I work for a long established estate agency in Monken Hadley where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Monken Hadley conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Monken Hadley with the aim of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Monken Hadley can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in Monken Hadley charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Monken Hadley.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Monken Hadley state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you dont have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
  • A minority of Monken Hadley leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

    • I own a second floor flat in Monken Hadley. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for a lease extension?

    Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the premium.

    An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Monken Hadley flat is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 76 years.